Sensitivity of FGM shallow arches to loading imperfection when loaded by a concentrated radial force around the crown

The non-linear in-plane stability of pin-ended circular shallow arches is analytically investigated. The arches are made of functionally graded material with the material properties varying along the thickness. The external load is a radial concentrated force in the direct vicinity of the crown. The effect of the bending moment on the membrane strain is included in the one-dimensional model. The equations of the pre-buckling and buckled equilibrium are derived using the principle of minimum potential energy. Analytical solutions are found for both bifurcation and limit point buckling. Extensive parametric studies are performed to find and demonstrate the effect of various parameters on the buckling load and in-plane behaviour. It is found that most arches have multiple stable and unstable equilibria and the number of equilibria increases with the modified slenderness. When the load is applied exactly at the crown, the lowest buckling load is related to bifurcation buckling for most geometries and material compositions but when there is a small imperfection in the load position, only limit point buckling is possible. The position of the load can have quite a huge influence on the buckling load, therefore pin-ended functionally graded shallow arches are sensitive to small imperfections in the load position. •The sensitivity of shallow arches to small loading imperfections is studied.•The arches are made of transversely FGM.•The effect of various geometrical-material parameters is investigated analytically.•Results show that the load position has huge influence on the buckling behaviour.